The Color Gray
by Deadmario2
Summary: This is the story of Gray. His life sucks at the moment. He's 16, a Faunus, and homeless. But that's before a generous dust shop owner takes him in.
1. Chapter 1

"Damn it's cold tonight." I said as I pull my jacket closer to my body. It didn't help though as there were a few holes throughout the sleeves. I found the jacket in a dumpster behind an apartment complex. I'm right now in one of the many alleys in the city of Vale, hiding from the wind. Oh, I'm sorry I completely forgot to introduce myself. Hiya, I'm Gray. I'm 6 feet tall, have gray hair, 16 years old, and have silver eyes. Now you might be wondering why a 16-year-old kid is in an alleyway with an old, torn jacket, and starving. Oh, did I not mention I'm starving before? Yea, I'm freaking hungry. I haven't eaten in 36 hours. Anyway, I've been homeless for about a week now. I'm homeless because I'm a Faunus. A wolf Faunus to be exact. Under the black beanie that I usually wear, is a pair of furry wolf ears. My story obviously began when I was born. My parents lived in a small village, that didn't really like Faunus. Neither of my parents were Faunus but contrary to popular belief, a Faunus can be born from non-Faunus parents. When I was born, my parents were disgusted with my wolf ears. They said they had a mutant freak for a son, so they gave me away. Luckily my uncle on my father's side was not as discriminatory. He took me in after he heard that my parents didn't want me. He loved in the same village as my parents so, to keep me safe, he put a black beanie on my head to hide my wolf ears. I was always taught to never take off my beanie in public. That if I did, the village would either kill me or run me out of town. My uncle was very nice. He loved me, even if I was a Faunus. He taught me to use a sword and even taught me how to use dust to do different spells. I had a pretty normal life for the longest time. Until my 16th birthday. On the day I turned 16, my uncle bestowed upon me the family sword, ironically named, silent wolf. It's a steel katana with a black hilt and sheath. It's the very same katana I have at my hip right now, freezing and starving in the alley. Anyway again, my father did not like the idea of a "mutant freak" having possession of the family sword. My uncle and father had a huge fight that night before storming off. Later that night, as my uncle and I were sleeping, a mob appeared at our house. My father had gone and told everyone that my uncle was harboring a Faunus freak. Needless to say, the village was not happy about having a Faunus hide right under their noses with help from someone in the village. The mob broke into the house. I awoke after they broke in, but I was already too late. They killed my uncle while he was sleeping. I decided to run. I ran so far away with only my sword, beanie, and the clothes on my back. Eventually I ended up in central Vale, so I decided I'd live there. Turns out finding a job is harder than you think, so here I am, cold and hungry in this alley. It's not that bad though. The stray animals sort of like me. So as I'm sitting in the alley, I see an old man walk past me, mumbling something about being late for dinner. He stops just as he passes me, turns, and looks at me. I noticed him looking at me, so I grabbed the hilt of my sword, just in case this man tries anything. Sure he's old, but looks can be deceiving.

He takes a step closer to me, kneels, and asks me, "What's a boy as young as you doing in an alley on such a cold night?"

I scoff and reply, "I'm not young, I can take care of myself." He chuckles.

"Well when you get to as old as I am, everyone is young. But you still haven't answered my question." He says.

"I have nowhere else to go," I say simply.

"No family?" he asks.

"Sore subject, old man," I say sort of rudely. Hey, I'm still a little sore over my village killing the only person that loved me in cold blood. Give me a break.

"Hmm…" he looks as if he's thinking about something. I keep my hand on the hilt of silent wolf, just in case. "Why don't you come to my house? I can't let a youngster like you go hungry and cold. I'll give you a warm meal and even let you uses my shower, if you want." As you can guess, I'm surprised. Here's some old man that met me 7 minutes ago, barely had a conversation with me, and now is inviting me to come to his house and feed me. It seems a little sketchy to me. Too good to be true. I know most people in vale wouldn't even bat an eye in my direction.

"What's the catch?" I say suspiciously.

"No catch," he smiles sincerely, "Just want to help a youngster that needs it.

I growl, "I'm not young… but fine. A free meal's a free meal. Thanks." I say as I get up. I keep silent wolf at my side. I may be accepting but I'm not stupid. He gets up as well and he leads me to his home. On the way I ask his name. He says that his name is Jacob Hartraft and his home is a dust shop called "From Dust to Dawn." I smile at the name of the store. When we arrive, I see a broken window that's being replaced out front and I ask what happened.

"Some guy named Roman Torchwick tried to rob me. Luckily, a girl with a red cloak saved my shop and me. I sure was surprised when I found out that she was only a student at Signal Academy." I shrug, not really caring for the red-cloaked savior of his. He leads me inside and walks to the kitchen. "The bathroom is down the hall, third door on the right," He says, "Go and get yourself cleaned up, you smell like crap." He grins well heartingly though. I ignore his little insult and just reply with a thanks. I go to the bathroom and start the hot water as I strip. I step in and OH GOD SWEET HEAVEN THIS FEELS AMAZING! I forgot how good hot showers felt. I quickly wash my hair and body before just enjoying the hot water rushing over me. I disappointingly decide it's time to get out. I get out and quickly dry myself with a towel that was under the sink. I dress in the same clothes and walk out before Jacob quickly stops me. "No! No no!" He says, "You can't wear those again! They stink and that shower would be for nothing! Here!" He shoves a pair of gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt into my arms. "Put those on and give me those other clothes. I'll wash them for you" he says/demands. I sigh, walk back into the bathroom and does as he says. I walk back out and walk into the kitchen, where he is. He's finishing up some spaghetti as I sit at the table. He sets a bowl of the spaghetti in front of me and sets another one at the opposite end of the table. He sits down and we both start eating. The dinner between the old man and me is silent at first until he asks me a question. "So what's your story, if you don't mind me asking of course."

I don't answer for a little bit before I sigh and reply, "You let me into your home, it's only fair I tell you." So I do. I even take off my beanie when I tell him I'm a Faunus. I wait for his eyes to narrow when he sees my ears, or yell at me and throw me out, but he just keeps looking, waiting for the rest of the story. I tell him everything from my parents not wanting me, to my uncle training me, to the mob and me running. At the end of my tale, he looks sincerely at me. He's quiet for a little while before I say, "Now I have a question for you. Why did you really invite me to your home? Most people would turn a blind eye at a homeless teenager. Others would call the cops on a homeless Faunus for being an eyesore."

Jacob smiles and says, "Like I said, just want to help a kid out. And judging by your story, looks like you needed it." He stays smiling before he looks like he's thinking about something. Finally, he says, "Hey. I can't let you go out back there. So how's about a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" I ask.

"Well," he replies, "How about this. You can work here, in my dust shop, and in return, I'll let you stay here and eat here. I'll even throw in some money for working here too. As long as you're fine with minimum wage." I look at him suspiciously before deciding to think about it to myself. I mean, it's a good deal. A bed, a roof to sleep under, food, and even money. But can I really trust him, sure he fed me and he's nice and all but…

As I'm thinking he speaks up and says, "Don't worry, it's not hard work. All you really got to do is man the registrar, sweep, and some other small things." I keep thinking and finally decide to accept his offer. I trust him, and if he tries anything, it's not like I'm defenseless, I think to myself as I feel the wait of Silent Wolf still on my hip.

"Sure," I say, "That sounds like a good deal. Thank you. Really, thanks." I smile for real for what feels like the first time since that night. We both nod in agreement and finish the rest of our food. I help clean up (even though he kept saying there was no need of my help). He showed me upstairs to where I would be staying while I was there. It was a simple bedroom, a bed, a window with curtains, a bedside table, and a closet with some clothes. Jacob says there were his sons before he moved away and they looked to be my size. Jacob says he's going to head to bed and I do as well. He leaves my room as I get into the bed. I keep Silent Wolf close just in case. One can never be too careful. I stay up for a little bit just taking in the events of the night. About 2 to 3 hours ago, I was in an alley freezing my ass off. Now I suddenly have a home, a job, and even some clothes. Maybe God and Uncle are up there smiling upon me after all. I soon fall asleep. After that my life got to pretty much normal for the next few months. I work in the shop most days and on the weekends I just walk around. I've only told Jacob that I'm a Faunus. Everyone else just knows me as Jacob's normal apprentice. But I have a feeling that soon everyone will know about my wolf ears.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm so excited!" I basically scream as I run into the shop. I just got back from walking around when I saw the decorations again for the Vytal Festival. Jacob sighed as he walked from around the counter to greet me.

"Let me guess, you're excited for the Vytal Festival?" he says sarcastically.

"Yea, how'd you know?" I ask, a little confused.

"Because," he replies, "You've been shouting about it all the time since we put up the decorations last weekend. You've been screaming about it since Friday and it's now Monday!"

"Oh… Sorry." I reply, a little embarrassed. "But today is special because tomorrow is the registration for the tournament!"

"Wasn't it supposed to be today?" He asks.

"Yea, but it was delayed because of the thing at the shipyard yesterday. That was stupid. So what a few crates and dustplanes blew up, that doesn't mean they have to delay the registration!" I pout. Jacob chuckles at my pouted face. I stop pouting as I say, "Oh yea. Jacob, I need to buy some more dust for the registration tomorrow. I'm running low because I've been practicing. I'm assuming the normal employee discount?"

"Of course!" He says as he smiles. Since I work here, I get to buy dust from here for next to nothing. I smile as I load up my dust containers that I keep on my belt. I pay Jacob and say thank you. "So what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" He asks me.

"I'm just going to hang out in my room. See you later, Jacob." I say as I hop up the stairs and walk into my room. Since I've been living here for a few months, I've had some chances to personalize it. There was a bed in the right corner of the room, parallel to the window that's on the back wall. The bedside table was still there, but the curtains were removed to let in sunlight. I added a desk with a computer that was facing the wall opposite of the bed. I also added a few posters of some shows and bands that I like.

I kept thinking about the tournament, and what people I was going to have to fight. I hope I do alright. I mean I hear about these people that have these cool weapons that can mechashift into other weapons. Like Pyrhha Nikos, the girl with the most consecutive wins for the Mistral Regional Tournament, she has a spear that can mechashift into a rifle! All I have is a katana that can't even use dust. I have to use the dust spell by channeling my aura into the dust and using my left hand (Since I hold Silent Wolf with my right). I know I shouldn't be complaining about the sword my uncle gave me, but there are other weapons out there that are soooo cool! I sigh as I lay on my bed and decide to stop thinking about it. I instead started to think about good things. I heard that some headmasters for combat schools will be there, watching. I hope they're looking to recruit. Combat school would be so much fun! And it'd be a good place to sharpen my skills. The thought of being a hunter has never particularly excited me. But going to combat school has always been on my agenda. It sounds fun, and if I find normal jobs boring, I'd have the degree to be a hunter. I even heard a rumor that Professor Ozpin would be there, from Beacon Academy. I hope he is. And I hope he's at least a little impressed by me. Maybe if he is, he'll ask me to go to Beacon as a student. And then I can have cool combat classes and have a dorm!

I continued living my fantasy of Beacon until Jacob called me down for dinner. I came downstairs, and him and I ate dinner while occasionally chatting. He asked me some questions about the tournament too. He asked how many people would be allowed to actually fight in the tournament. I answered that since a lot of people would be trying to enter from all around Remnant. So they'd be having the tournament in different categories: Hunters, and Non-Hunters. Basically everyone who has a Hunter Degree would fight in the Hunters Tournament, and anyone who is a combat school student or who's not a student but just has some weapon skill will fight in the Non-hunters Tournament. Each Tournament will accept the top twenty fighters in the registration to fight in the tournament. I really hope I at least make it to the tournament.

After dinner, Jacob and I cleaned up and I went back up to my room. I had nothing else to do so I got on my laptop and surfed the Internet. I just watched some videos and played some random games until I noticed I had a message. I check my inbox and saw that I had a message from Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina was this rabbit faunus girl that I met online. I was bored and saw her on a random social media site, saw she was also a faunus, and decided to send her a message. This was about a couple weeks after I moved in with Jacob so we've been messaging pretty regularly now. She was pretty cool. She was a little shy but she liked some of the bands and shows I liked as well so we'd chat about those. I also told her that I was also a faunus when I first messaged her because she's a random girl on the Internet. It's not like she can tell anyone that knows me. She looked pretty cute in her profile pic though.

Anyway, she messaged me that she'd be at the Vytal Festival. I messaged back cool and hopefully I'd see her there. We sent messages back and forth, chatting about random stuff before I said goodnight to her and went to bed. I just laid in my bed, in the dark, for a little while just thinking about the registration tomorrow. I wonder what I'll have to do… Whatever, I'll find out tomorrow. I then allowed myself to close my eyes and fall sleep.

I woke up in the morning a little after 7:30 AM. The registration started at 9 and I wanted to be early, so I quickly got up, took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, and finally checked my weapons before running out the door, shouting a quick goodbye to Jacob. By the time I left it was about 8:15. I was basically skipping to the registration stand I was so excited. When I got there, I was really surprised. I've never signed up for a tournament, so I was surprised to see between 100-200 people and the only set up was a booth to sign your name, and a tent so the judges could evaluate you. There was a huge line for the one booth to sign your name though! But I decide that there's no use waiting for the line to go down, so I get in. So I'm just here waiting in line… Barely moving… So boring. I move about five feet before I check my watch and I see it's 9:15. 9:15! I've been here an hour and barely moved 5 feet! Ok I may be exaggerating a little about the 5 feet part. It was more about 15 but STILL I'VE BEEN HERE AN HOUR ALREADY! I sigh kind of loud before saying, "Ugh! It's so boring waiting in line!"

I then hear a voice behind me say "Yea, tell me about it." I turn around to see a boy about my age, my height, with blonde hair, blue eyes, with a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, and some armor on his torso and upper arms. I see him smiling at me and he holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Jaune by the way. Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it." I chuckle at his introduction and shake his hand.

"I'm Gray," I say back, "Gray Hartraft."

"Are you a student anywhere?" He asks curious as we move a little in line.

"Nah. I'm just good with a sword and dust." I say as I motion to my dust belt and katana.

"Dust and sword, huh? Reminds me of some white heiress," he says as he giggles to himself. I don't get his joke, but I don't question it. "I go to Beacon Academy," he continues, "I'm just holding a spot in line for my friends while they got some breakfast. They told me they'd bring some back." I reply with a quick cool as we move again in line a little. We just chat for a little while about random stuff before I see a group of 7 people walk towards him. Wow, when he said friends, I thought he meant 1 to 2 people. There was a girl in a black and red dress with black hair (though it could be really dark red), another girl with a white dress and white hair, yet another girl with black hair and a black bow, a girl with yellow hair and a brown jacket (That showed a lot of cleavage), a guy dressed in green with black hair with a pink streak down the side, a girl with red hair with a pink skirt and a heart in the middle of her chest, and HOLY CRAP IT'S PYRRHA NIKOS! This guy is friends with Pyrrha?! Wow… I kinda wanted to fanboy over Pyrrha because she won all those tournaments but I restrained myself.

"Hey Jaune. Who's your friend?" The girl in the red and black dress asks.

"Oh hey guys," he says, "This is Gray. Gray, This is Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha." He motions to each person as he says his or her name.

"Hi," I say, "Jaune and I just started chatting in line as he waited for you guys to come back.

Jaune chuckles and rubs the back of his head, "Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet, right?" He stops rubbing his head and suddenly says, "Hey do you have my food?"

"Yea, I have it. I had to keep Nora from eating it," Ruby says as she passes a bag to Jaune.

"I got hungry on the way." Nor says with a smile.

Jaune's group and I just chat as Jaune eats his breakfast burrito while we move up. We finally get to the front of the line and the person behind the booth asks me my name, age, what my weapons are, and if/where I went to school. I respectfully answer each question and then the person tells me to go into the tent fro judging. As I walk in, I see there are three judges. They don't ask anything too much of me. They just ask to inspect my weapon and dustbelt before asking me to demonstrate my skill using them. I show them my form with using my sword and then show them some dust spells, like some elemental spells, air step spells, and some bolt spells. They tell me that they have evaluated me and will post tomorrow who got in and who will be fighting whom. I leave and wait for Jaune and his friends to finish being judged so I can hang out with them. I have nothing else to do today. They eventually all finish and I join them.

"So how'd you guys do?" I ask, wondering.

Everyone says they think they did fine. "I think they were a little disappointed by my shield and sword though," Jaune says. "But at least my skills weren't bad. Defiantly better than a few months ago."

"So what should we do now?" Ruby asks. We all looked as we were about to say something, then stopped to think. What was there to do around here? We all just stood silent, thinking.

This went on for about two minutes before Yang simply said, "Movie?"

We all thought about it before Blake said, monotone, "Not a bad idea." Everyone else voiced his or her agreement, while I just nodded. I wasn't against a movie.

As we walk to the theatre, Ruby says to no one in particular, "I hope Penny made it to registration. She really wanted to fight in the tournament," kinda sadly.

"Don't worry, sis," Yang says, "I'm sure she did." The conversation kinda stopped there. We get to the theatre and stop outside, trying to figure out what movie to watch. I suggest the new Doctor When movie. But as soon as those words left my mouth, I saw Ruby right in front of me staring at me.

"You like Doctor When too?!" She basically shouts.

"Y-yea. I really like sci-fi," I say, wincing from my burst eardrum.

She squealed and ran over to Yang. "Yang! Yang Yang! Can we plleeaassee see the new Doctor When movie?! Please!" She begs.

"Absolutely not!" Weiss inputs before Yang could say anything. "The story is confusing, the special effects are garbage, and only geeks like it!" I felt a little hurt when she said only geeks liked it. I'm like it, and I'm not a geek… am I? Ruby looked a little hurt and sad at Weiss' comment.

"Come on Weiss," Yang says, "It can't be that bad. The Doctor is kinda hot. And Ruby really wants to see it. And no one else seems against it."

"It does seem interesting," Blake said simply. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Fine!" Weiss says. "I will watch it because I don't want to watch a movie alone. But I won't enjoy it!" That was a complete lie though. Throughout the movie I saw Weiss smile and even giggle at some of the jokes. Also, throughout the movie I saw Ruby and Jaune make quiet comments about the movie. They'd make a cute couple I think to myself. When the movie ends and we walk out, it's pretty late.

"I got to go home guys. I'll see you tomorrow!" I say as I wave goodbye and walk home. When I get home, I tell Jacob about my day and about my new friends. I ate some Linner (Since I missed lunch). After Linner I went upstairs to my room and hung out and finally went to bed. I hope I made the tournament.

**A/N: Thank you to Bondman0070 and Guest for reviewing! And yes, I am parodying Doctor Who with Doctor When. I really hope you guys enjoy this story. Keep being awesome!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Yawwwwnnnnn…" I yawn as I wake up. I sit up and check the time. It was 8:30. "Probably time to get up anyway," I say to myself as I get up, "Registration results will be posted at 9 anyway." I get up and take a quick shower before brushing my teeth and getting dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans along with my beanie. I hop downstairs and eat a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes. I still can't believe I met the girl on the cover of Pumpkin Pete's… Anyway, after I finish my cereal, I say a quick goodbye to Jacob, saying I'm leaving to check the results. I leave and walk down the street to where they held the registration yesterday. I really hope I made it in. If I just made it in, that'll be enough. I don't mind losing the tournament. Just as long as I get in. And maybe win a few matches.

After I get there, I see that the results are just a sheet of poster board posted on a wall. I went to the Non-hunters results poster to read the name of the participants and first match ups. I start reading, scanning for the name of anyone I know or me. Hmmm… Well looks like all of Team RWBY and JNPR got in and even Penny, that one girl Ruby mentioned yesterday. But none of them are fighting each other the first round. That's good, I think. I keep reading and get to the second to last matchup, not seeing my name. I close my eyes tight. 'Either I'm in the last matchup or I didn't make it' I think to myself. I slowly open my eyes to see the last matchup. Cardin Winchester V. Gray Hartraft… HOLY CRAP I MADE IT! I squeal as I happily bounce up and down. YES! I calm myself down quickly though and make sure no one saw me. I start walking off, going to tell Jacob the big news when I accidently bump into someone, causing me to stumble a bit. "Sorry man," I quickly say. The person I bumped into is a tall teenager about my age with black clothes, a red belt, brownish hair, and silver armor with what looks like a nevermore/eagle on the chest.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, Faggot," He says back with a frown on his face as he walks past me.

"Well that wasn't very nice…" I say to myself. I don't know why one mean comment makes me want to break this guy's legs though. Eh, whatever. I decide to keep walking and ignore the temptation of breaking that guy's legs like twigs. I finally get home and tell Jacob the good news. He's extremely happy for me as he says we're going to have special dessert tonight to celebrate. 'It's hardly something to celebrate though' I think. The day just carries on as normal after that. I hang around in the shop in case any customers come in. None do though since all the people who need the dust have already stocked up for the tournament. After my shift is done, I go upstairs and get on my computer to chat with Velvet.

Me: "Hey Velvet. What's up?"

Velvet: "Nothing much. Studying. What about you?"

Me: "I found out I got accepted into the Vytal Festival Tournament."

Velvet: "That's great! Please be careful though. I heard that some participants in the Tournament are ruthless."

Me: "Don't worry, I'll be fine, Velv!"

Velvet: "My name is Velvet. B-but you can call me Velv. ^.^' "

Me: "I've told you before Velvet, you need to chill out. I'm not going to yell at you or hurt you or anything! It's not likely that we'll meet in person anyway."

Velvet: "Oh, ok."

Me: "Anyway, I'm up against some guy named Cardin Winchester first."

Velvet: "oh no"

Me: "What? Do you know him?"

Velvet: "W-well he goes to my school. He doesn't like Faunus though…."  
Me: "Does he bully you because you're a Faunus?"

Velvet: "Well only a little…"

Me: "Well then I'll make sure to get in a few hits just for you."  
Velvet: "You don't have to do that."

Me: "I want to. I'll protect my friends. Anyway I got to go eat. Bye!"

Velvet: "Bye."

I head downstairs to eat dinner and, to my surprise, there's a cake as well as dinner on the table.

"I told you we'd have special dessert," Jacob says, almost cheekily. I smile and say thank you. We eat dinner together as we talk about our days. After dinner, Jacob cuts the cake and we both have a slice. It was a vanilla cake with sprinkles, my favorite. I'm glad Jacob knew it was my favorite. It gives me a small sense that Jacob really cares for me. Like Uncle did. Before he died… Well there's no use getting sad over the past. I'm sure Uncle would want me to be happy that I found someone like Jacob. After dessert, I cover the cake and head up to shower. As I get in the shower and wash my hair, feeling my wolf ears, I think to myself. I hope I beat Cardin bad tomorrow. He bullies Velvet and he hates Faunus. I already hate bullies, but he's also a Anti-Faunus kind of person. I REALLY hate those kinds of people. Hopefully I don't kill him, though I can't make any promises. He can't be that strong though. If there's one thing that I accomplish in this tournament, it'll be beating Cardin Winchester.

After my shower, I got dressed in some pajama pants and a t-shirt. I then walk into my room and watch some TV. The tournament isn't till a couple of days from now so I don't have to stress too much about it yet. Wait, Velvet goes to Beacon. So does Cardin. And so do my new friends. That's it! Tomorrow I'll hopefully find them in town and ask about Cardin Winchester. Maybe I can find some weaknesses of his, or at least I'll find out what kind of fighter he is so I can know how to defend against him. Hopefully one of my friends is in town tomorrow. I'd even settle for Weiss. Sure she's very serious, a little narcissistic, and not very easy to talk to but she seems smart and I bet I could get her to laugh. She giggled at the Doctor When movie. And she might have useful information on Cardin. I look at the clock, and decide that 10:30 is a good time to get some sleep. I turn off the lights, crawl into bed, and quickly fall asleep.

I wake up to my alarm the next morning at 6:00 AM. I have the morning shift in the dust shop. I get up and get dressed in a casual button-up white shirt and some blue jeans. I brush my teeth, do everything else I need to get ready, and walk downstairs to eat a bowl of cereal. After my breakfast, I put my nametag on and man the counter. Since there's no one coming in yet, I pull out my GSP (Game Station Portable) and play on it until I hear the bell on the door ring. I quickly put my GSP away and help any customers that come inside. At 2:30, my shift ends and I put my nametag away and walk out, hoping to find any of my friends. I just walk around the city for about an hour when I bump into… Weiss… I was kinda hoping it'd be someone else. Well, beggars can't be choosers… I really need to think of a better phrase then that. Anyway, I walk up to Weiss and say hey.

"Hello, Gray," she says. Well at least she's not being mean. "Well, what are you doing out here?"

"Oh. Just walking around. Did you see the registration results yesterday?" I ask, nonchalantly.

"Yes I did. I'll be fighting someone by the name of David. I can't remember his last name. But I'll be sure to win, nonetheless." She replies, smirking a little. I can only guess she's imagining beating David into the ground.

"Yea, I'll be fighting someone named Cardin Winchester," I say, "I think he goes to your school."

"I wouldn't worry about him," She says quickly, "He's a good for nothing bully. I'm sure even a monkey would be able to beat him."

"And you'd be right in that!" A voice says from above us.

We both look up at the sudden voice to see a man hanging above us on a light post by his tail. The guy was a blonde with a white, unbuttoned shirt exposing his chest, red gauntlets on his forearms, blue jeans, a gold necklace, and a monkey tail. "I could totally beat this 'Cardin' based on the way you're describing him," he said before dropping off the light post and landing on his feet in front of Weiss and I.

"What are you doing here, Sun?" Weiss asked, with a hint of hostility in her voice. I wonder why. He seems nice enough.

"Just hanging around." He smirks at his own pun. "Why the hint of hostility in your voice, Heiress? Still don't like me?"

"I don't like or trust thieves." She replied as she crosses her arms.

"Come on! I only steal small things like fruits." Sun retorts.

"And a boat ride to Vale!" Weiss retorts back.

"Eh, whatever. Anyway, who're you?" He asks turning to me. He gives a small smile and holds out his hand to shake. "I'm Sun Wukong."

"Gray, Gray Hartraft." I say grabbing his gauntleted hand and shaking it. "Are you participating in the tournament, Sun?"

"Yep. I'm guessing you are too?" He says as we return our hands to our sides.

I nod and say, "Yea. I hope I at least make it past the first round." I smile nervously.

"Don't worry man, I'm sure you will. Gotta have more confidence," he says as he places a hand on my back.

"If you two boys are done having your bromance, I'm still here!" Weiss says a bit angrily at being left out of the conversation. Sun and I both mutter a quick apology. The three of us walk and chat for about 10 minutes before Weiss left to go meet up with her team. I think she just wanted to get away from Sun and I. After long I say goodbye to Sun too and walk home. Later at night, as I'm getting into bed, I thank whatever God that will listen that I met a few good friends in the past couple days. As I'm falling asleep, I remember my conversation with velvet and I think one thing before falling into the bliss of sleep, "I'm going to beat Cardin's ass for bullying Velvet…"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Thank you all who reviewed! Really, seeing the new reviews are the only thing from keeping me from trashing this fanfic because honestly, I don't even see it as good. But if you guys like it I will continue. I enjoy writing this but after I finish each chapter and read it over I think, "Wow, this was written by a fourth grader. I hope somebody will like it." So thank you guys so much for all the support, and because of you guys I will continue the story. I will try to get a chapter up each week. Note I said TRY so please don't freak out if this story goes two weeks without an update. And also to the people asking who the pairings are, I will not answer because who knows, It can look like one pairing but switch to another. So if you want to find out the pairings, keep reading. MWAHAHAHA! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

I slowly open my eyes as I hear my alarm clock going off. I groan as I shut it off and turn over in my bed. I start to fall asleep again when I remember something and my eyes shoot open. Today is the first day of the tournament…. Today is the first day of the tournament…. Today. Is. The. First. Day. Of. The. Tournament! I instantly am awake then. I get up and quickly get dressed in jeans and my white t-shirt before going to my closet and looking at my combat gear. I smile proudly at it. I equip my regular dust belt and I attach Silent Wolf in its scabbard to my belt and then I pick up the little armor I had. I just bought these wrist guards a little bit ago especially for the tournament. I attach the grey/silver arm guards to my forearms. They're steel, cover the backs of my forearms, start before my hand and end just before my elbows to cover the length of my forearms yet leave my hands free to grip my sword.

After I finish putting my combat gear on I check my dust belt to make sure it's full with dust, my wrist guards to make sure they won't break or slip off (and to make sure they will actually protect me), and Silent Wolf to make sure it's still sharp. After everything checks out ok I walk downstairs, greet Jacob, and eat breakfast. As I'm eating Jacob sits with me at the table and says with a smile, "So today's the day of the tournament?"

"MmmHmm." I grunt with a mouthful of Pumpkin Pete's.

"Promise me you'll be safe out there? A lot of people get hurt real bad in these kind of tournaments," He says, still with a smile but I can see there's worry in his eyes.

I quickly finish what's in my mouth and I reply, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Plus, I promise if things start getting bad for me, I'll surrender and forfeit" I smile at him, though I have no plans of forfeiting. "So I'll be going. They won't let spectators in till later so I'll see you later. You're coming to watch right?" I ask after I finish my breakfast.

"Of course!" He exclaims, "What kind of person would I be if I didn't come?" He smiles good-heartedly at me. 

"Ok then, See you." I wave goodbye as I walk down the door and walk to the address they gave on the registration results. I actually have never been to the arena so I'm curious to see what it looks like. When I get there, I'm not disappointed. The arena is huge! It can easily fit 2,000 people. It looks like it's a multi purpose sports stadium so it makes sense it's this big. I walk to the entrance and the guard at the door stops me and asks for my name. Probably to make sure I am a contestant and not a spectator trying to get in early. I give him my name and after a moment of checking his clipboard he lets me in. I get in and walk to where the contestants are supposed to wait to realize I'm a little early. It's only me and this other girl here. The other girl is a red-head with green eyes, a white sortof dress and black pants that have a green line up the sides. She was just sitting on the bench. I decided since she was the only one here, might as well make conversation. I sit next to her and say, "Hi there."

"Salutations!" She turns and says back with a smile. Weird… who says salutations for a greeting? Whatever. "I'm Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"I'm Gray," I say as I smile back at her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" She says, retaining her smile.

I giggle. "You already said that," I say with a smile.

She frowns for a moment before giggling herself. "So I did."

"So you don't look the part to be fighting in a tournament like this," I smile at her.

"Oh don't worry. I'm combat ready!" She says as she does a little salute towards me. I chuckle and we just chat and before long other contestants start showing up. Eventually team JNPR and team RWBY show up.

"Hey guys!" I smile and wave to them, still in my seat next to Penny.

"Hey," Jaune says as the group walks over, "What's up?"

"Salutations Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and friends." Penny says before I get a chance to respond. Team JNPR looks at her a little oddly, Yang and Blake looks normal, Weiss looks at her surprised, while Ruby hugs Penny.

"Penny!" Ruby says happily, "It's good to see you. Where'd you go? I haven't seen you since you kicked Roman's butt." Ruby smirks and does a little karate kick as she says the last part.

"I was at home," Penny replies, "Training some more." Something about how Penny said that last statement was a little odd but it goes unnoticed by everyone else so I ignore it. We all sit down and chat for a while before some official looking gentleman walks in and addresses us.

"Please prepare yourselves, the first round will begin shortly. So as to make the tournament more interesting so competitors cannot observe their future opponents, none of the contestants will be able to witness the matches. Our deepest apologies if this bothers anyone." The man says before walking back out.

"Aww man!" I groan a little loudly, " I was hoping I'd get to see you guys fight… Such a stupid rule."

"If you think about it, it does make sense," Blake says, still reading her book, "If we were allowed to watch the fights, we could observe our future opponent. Going into the fight not knowing what we're up against keeps it fair and interesting."

"She does have a point there," Weiss adds, "Though I was smart enough to observe some of the contestants before coming here." She smirks to herself, proud of her cheati- I mean creativity. "Anyway, I'm in the first matchup. I'll see you guys later," She adds as she walks toward the door that leads to the arena. We can hear the announcer welcoming Weiss and the other Contestant to the arena. After a little while, we hear the announcer announce that Weiss is indeed the winner as she walks back in.

"Weiss you won!" Ruby says excitedly as she jumps up and down.

"What else did you think would happen?" Weiss replies with a smirk.

One by one, as the matches went on, we all, except me, went off to fight our first match. No one got eliminated in the first round and I even saw Sun as he went off to fight his. He probably got here late. Ruby was happy that everyone won but she seemed a bit happier when Jaune came back victorious. She even gave him a little hug. Like I said before, they look cute together. Is it bad I ship my friends together?

Before long it was my turn to fight. Specifically, fight Cardin Winchester. Oh I can't wait to break that little prick's legs.

**A/N: And that's where I'll end this chapter. Tune in next week to find out if Gray will beat Cardin and defend Velvet! On… THE COLOR GRAY!**

**Haha but seriously, please keep reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello! I'm just thanking everyone who's reviewed. I really appreciate everyone who's been reading. I want to clarify that I know Monty owns RWBY and he'll probably have things go differently than this story when RWBY comes back. I'm gonna keep on with my story and in my story this is how the tournament is going to go and how all future events will go. I know that Velvet is gonna have her own Team in the actual show but I have different ideas for her and her team. So please don't be mad if I'm not canon with the show. So I guess you can sort of call this fic an AU fic but I don't see it as so but call it whatever you want. Again thank you for all the support. Thanks for reading!**

After they called my name to fight, I walked away from my group of friends and to the door exiting into the arena. I did a half second mental check of my weapons and my techniques. After I made sure I was 120% ready, I exited into the arena and saw my opponent, Cardin Winchester. And it turns out Cardin Winchester was the rude person that I bumped into in chapter thre- I mean, from when I checked the registration results. I walked to the middle where Cardin was waiting with the referee. Cardin looked me over before snorting to himself, "This won't take very long." You can say that again, I think before smirking.

"This will be a standard one on one weapons match. If your opponent surrenders, you must stop fighting or you may be disqualified. If I call the match, you must stop fighting or you may be disqualified. If you use outside help, you will be disqualified. If you use any illegal substances, you will be disqualified. Understand?" The referee says to us. I nod in understanding but Cardin rolls his eyes. The ref doesn't notice. "Bow to each other and you may start fighting when I begin the match." He calmly walks off the fighting stage and Cardin and I bow (though Cardin's bow seems a bit mockingly). I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, still in it's sheath and Cardin has his mace unsheathed. "BEGIN!" The ref shouts from off the stage and Cardin immediately swings his mace at me. I quickly dodge, unsheathe my sword, and hold it in my hands. Cardin charges me and I dodge again. Man this guy has no strategy. Cardin keeps charging and swinging and I easily dodge. I'm must faster than this guy and I know more than how to charge and swing. For the umpteenth time he charges and swings and for the umpteenth time I dodge. But after I dodge, I summon an airstep glyph under my feet and I launch myself forward, towards Cardin. I swing Silent Wolf while moving past him and cut his arm. I turn around to face him after I finish my attack, and quickly move towards Cardin again. I swing horizontally and I cut his armor on his chest. He looks angry at me and swings at me. I block with my sword and I move away so he can't reach me. I smirk.

"I'm going to kill you!" Cardin shouts at me. Oh looks like he's angry I damaged his precious family armor. Ha! Serves him right. But now that he's angry, this won't last much longer. My uncle taught me many things about fighting, like unless you're the incredible freaking hulk, you fight worse when angry. He sloppily runs at me, screaming. I don't even attempt to run away from this charge. He swings horizontally at my head. I duck under his swing and stab at his abdomen. He activates his aura quickly to protect him but the force of the stab still sends him stumbling backward. That's when I act. I quickly run forward and swing across his chest hitting him again. I swing again and again, all strikes landing. If he did not keep his aura up, protecting his body, he would've been cut to pieces. After my last swing, I give a quick jab to his abdomen and suddenly he is being electrocuted. I pull my hand away and there's a shock glyph around my fist. He gives a short cry at the pain of electricity coursing through his armor and body. After the electricity subsides, he looks weak enough to faint right there. That's when the sound of a whistle goes throughout the arena, indicating the match is over.

The referee runs over to the middle of the ring with a microphone, "Due to Cardin Winchester's aura falling into the red, I have decided to call the match. The winner of the round is Gray Hartraft!" YES! I do a little dance then remember I'm still on stage and stop. As Cardin slowly walks over to the exit. It looks like he's in a lot of pain… YES! I won the match and beat the crap out of my friend's bully! Talk about two birds with one stone. I walk back to the room where everyone else is waiting. My group of friends, now including sun, all congratulate me upon my return. I sit down with them when I notice that now there are few just random people. Some of us will have to fight each other in the second lineup. I hope I don't. Team RWBY, team JNPR, Penny, and Sun all look strong. Especially Penny. She looks all non-threatening and all, but she has something up her sleeve. I just know it. The next match up is between… Ruby and Pyrrha. I look over at the two girls, after hearing the match up. They were smiling at each other and wishing each other good luck. I wish I could see them fight. I want to see their fighting styles. Oh well… Ruby and Pyrrha walk out and leave.

"I wonder who'll win," I muse out loud to myself.

"Pyrrha is a much better strategist than Ruby. But Ruby has her speed. It's a tough call," Ren says from my right.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see," I say back. After about 45 minutes Ruby returned back to the room. "Hey," I greet, "So I'm guessing you won since Pyrrha didn't come back?"

"Yea," She says, "She's going to be in the stands watching the rest of the matches." She smiles and takes a seat next to Jaune. The next two battles involved the other people and so after those rounds there were just two of the people I didn't know, then my group. After that, Sun had to go against Blake.

"Don't hold it against me if I win, Kitty cat," Sun said with a wink to Blake as he walked to the entrance to the stage. Blake gave a little sigh before exiting to the Arena herself. Yang giggled. After about 40 minutes, Sun came back victorious, and smirking. After that, Penny was up against Weiss and Penny won. The next match-up was Yang and Nora. Now that round took the longest. About an hour and 15 minutes in fact. But finally, Yang came back with a huge grin, and sweating hard.

"W-we were pretty even in strength, but I came out on top in the end," She said in between breaths for air. I chuckle. I'd hate to have been matched up against either one of those powerhouses. That just left me versus Ren.

"Good luck," Ren says to me as we stand up, "I hope we both do well."

"Yea," I respond, "Good luck to you too, man." We both walk out to the stage and walk to the center, where the ref is waiting.

"This will be a standard one on one weapons match. If your opponent surrenders, you must stop fighting or you may be disqualified. If I call the match, you must stop fighting or you may be disqualified. If you use outside help, you will be disqualified. If you use any illegal substances, you will be disqualified. Understand?" The referee says to us. Ren and I nod in understanding. The ref walks off the stage and begins the match. I draw my sword and Ren already has his guns out. He jumps away to gain some distance from me and fires a hail of bullets at me. I quickly summon a protection glyph in front of me and the bullets bounce off it. He runs all around me, sending bursts of bullets at me to make sure I can't move while I keep summoning protection glyphs to make sure I'm not torn to shred by the bullets. Apparently, Ren decides that sending bullets at me won't win him the match, because he rushes straight at me to attack me with the blades on his twin guns. Unlucky for him, I'm prepared. When he gets near enough to attack me, I kick him right in the chest before he can get off his first attack. He stumbles back and I don't let off. I raise my sword and bring it down towards his head, before it suddenly stops, inches from his head. Ren's hands glow with aura has he has one on each side of the blade of Silent Wolf, stopping it. Apparently he had enough time to holster his pistols and activate his aura. Ren returns that kick to the chest to me and I stumble away from him. The next thing I know, an aura covered palm slams into my chest and I'm flying toward the edge of the stage. I land on my back just shy of the edge of the stage, and I stand back up again to face him. I grunt in pain as I stand back up. That really hurt… Hopefully I can return the favor. I smirk as I summon a fire glyph and four fireballs fire off, all homing in on Ren. Ren backflips out of the way, just before the fireballs could hit him, making the fireballs hit the ground where he was standing a moment ago. I summon an Ice glyph and four ice arrows fire toward Ren. I keep summoning fire and ice glyphs, making sure Ren won't have one moment of comfort. After about five sets of fireballs and ice arrows, I charge him, hoping to catch him off guard. I swing horizontally at him, but my attack only meets air. He ducked under my swing, and then hits my elbow and shoulder, making me drop my sword. After that, I suddenly am meeting a roundhouse kick to the side of my head, and I'm sent flying off the stage, and into the out-of-bounds area. After I land, I hear the referee's whistle. "Gray Hartraft has landed in the out-of-bounds. Lie Ren has won the match!" I shakily get up and walk back to Ren. I give him a weak smile and congratulate him, before picking up Silent Wolf and sheating it.

"Good match," Ren says back to me. I nod and leave the stadium while Ren goes back to the room where everyone else is waiting. I didn't expect Ren to be that strong, I think to myself as I sit myself in the spectator stand, before falling asleep of exhaustion. I think I deserve a rest after getting the beating I got.

**A/N: WHAT?! An main OC that isn't automatically overpowered and doesn't win the tournament?! I'm kidding, but that was my whole plan from the start. Gray would be alright, but not strong enough to win the tournament. I'm not good at writing combat scenes so please don't hate me for those. Anyway, Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I took some time off for the holiday season. Anyway, here's chapter 6.**

"Sir… Sir! Sir, you have to leave now!" I heard someone say. I just grumbled and squeeze my eyes shut tighter.

"Five more minutes…" I say sleepily. Then I remember where I fell asleep at and I instantly open my eyes… to the sun setting over an empty stadium and a janitor looking down at me. "How long was I out?" I mumble to myself.

"The tournament is over, sir. You need to leave so we can clean," The janitor says to me, looking a bit peeved. I blink in surprise… I slept through the rest of the tournament, the final match, the award ceremonies, and everyone leaving?!... I guess Ren beat me really hard to make me sleep through all that. I look back up at the janitor to see him holding a letter out to me. "Also some lady with blonde hair put this next to you. I didn't want you to not notice it and leave it here." I take the letter and mumble a quick thanks before leaving the stadium… I CAN'T BELIEVE I SLEPT THROUGH THAT! Now I got to go find out who won from Jacob. I can just see him teasing me about how I slept through that. I'll just find out from one of my friends then so I don't give Jacob that satisfaction. I arrived at From Dust till Dawn and told Jacob hello. He tried to start a conversation with me, but I quickly told him I was tired and headed upstairs. I fell back onto my bed and was about to close my eyes again when I felt an envelope in my back pocket. I quickly pull the letter out from the tournament and open it. The letter said…

"Dear Mr. Hartraft,

We are proud to inform you that blah blah blah pleased with your performance blah blah blah would like to meet with you blah blah blah Beacon Acadamy blah blah blah meet with Mr. Ozpin and I next week at 9 am blah blah blah

Glynda Goodwitch

… More or less. I just skimmed it and luckily I caught the important stuff. Beacon was impressed with me and Professor Ozpin wants to meet with me… I stared at the letter for a full 2 minutes before the reality set in. PROFESOR OZPIN WANTS TO MEET WITH ME! YES! This means I may potentially be able to attend Beacon Academy. How were they even impressed with me? I lost in the second match…. Well then again I did have to face Ren and he seems a little stronger than the average 17 year old… just a tad stronger. But still, I'm nothing special. Wait… Why am I being so pessimistic? I might be able to go to Beacon! That means I could see Jaune and his team and team RWBY everyday. And I can see Velvet too. Speaking of Velvet, I wonder if she saw my match with Cardin. Speaking of Cardin, did I end up putting him in the hospital? Speaking of… Sorry, getting off topic. I quickly read the letter again to learn the specifics of the meeting with Professor Ozpin. I have to meet with him… In some office building in 5 days. As I was thinking about exactly what Ozpin would ask me/what answers would get me into Beacon, there was a knock at my door. I opened it to find Jacob holding a package. "It was on the front counter, addressed to you," he said holding out the package to me. I took it and it was indeed addressed to Gray Hartraft.

"Thanks," I said. Jacob nodded and walked back downstairs. I sat on my bed and opened the package. Inside was a book, with a sticky note on the cover.

"Read up on your true family. Love, a relative," The note said. A relative? The only relatives I know are my parents and my uncle. One's dead and I wish the other two were dead. I took off the sticky note and opened the front over. Inside were 3 words, near the top of the first page. "Suzuki Family Book." Suzuki… Haven't heard that name in a long time. Suzuki is the last name of my parent's and used to be my Uncle's. That's right, my real name is Gray Suzuki. I changed my last name to Hartraft when I moved in with Jacob so my parents couldn't find me. But apparently either they, or some unknown relative did find me, and decided to give me this book. I flipped the pages and started skimming through the book. It was a book that was apparently passed down from generation to generation, it had history on Suzuki family members that were generals or great warriors, stories of family members that disappeared, and even had some fighting techniques that actually looked pretty useful. All the techniques were in different handwritings, so I assume the book is updated on each generation. I started studying the techniques. There were techniques on how to use the hands and attack the nerves of the body to weaken the opponent. There were also just useful training techniques, like how to hone one's senses by using a blindfold while training, or toughen one's skin using hot coals or going barefoot through the woods. It was all pretty cool. I closed the book and put it under my bed for safekeeping. I promised myself to better read the book either tomorrow or sometime before I met with Professor Ozpin.

"But for now," I said as I laid back in bed, not even caring to change into pajamas, or at least out of the clothes I fought in, "Sweet sleep." I dreamt off to sleep in my clothes, and my dust belt and sword next to my bed. But what felt like a minute later, I woke up to sunlight, and Jacob yelling for me to get up… Why does life have to be so cruel?! I just want to sleep! "Ughhh!" I groaned as I rolled over in bed.

"Gray! Come on, get up! You gotta work today!" I heard Jacob yell from downstairs.

"Fine!" I yell back as I get up. I walk to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. I deduce quickly that I need a shower, from my smell. My hair seemed to second that action because when I took off my beanie, it had a bad case of hat hair, felt greasy, and I could tell it smelt bad. My wolf ears also felt like bad from being pressed to my head by the beanie for so long. I took off the rest of my clothes, and my gauntlets before jumping in the shower and turning on the warm water. I squirted some shampoo into my hand, and started to wash my hair. While I was washing my hair, I also massaged my Faunus ears to get the soreness out of them. Man, they really are sensitive. I know I shouldn't wear a hat over them, but I don't want anyone else to see… Is that bad? My mouth turns into a slight frown as I think. I-it's not like I hate being a Faunus. I like my ears! I-it's just… I expect everyone to treat me like a lesser being. Like an animal… It's just a precaution. If I didn't wear my beanie, some people might hate me for it. Just because of my ears. "Just a precaution," I say to myself as jump out of the shower, after I finish washing my hair and the rest of my body. I dry myself off, and walk back to my room in my towel to change into normal clothes. As I enter my room, I toss my dirty clothes and towel into the hamper, place my gauntlets and battle gear in my closet, and get dressed in jeans, my work polo shirt, and work apron. I walk to my door, but before I leave, I look back to my bed, where the book is hiding under. I smile. "I can always read while not helping anybody," I say as I grab it and head downstairs to the dust shop.


End file.
